Sitting outside of Albus Dumbledore's office I was nervous. Mr. Malfoy had asked me to wait outside while he spoke to the headmaster of Hogwarts and I hadn't the slightest clue what was happening behind the thick wooden door. I fiddled with the ends of my hair questioning everything about myself. Was I smart enough? Was I pure enough? Was I too pure? Would he say I was too emotionally unstable? Would he send me back to St. Mungo's? I shivered, that place gave me the creeps. The building itself wasn't bad and the people were nice but dear God that smell. It was like the air was scented with sickness and death and I couldn't take that. I remember waking up only a few days ago and knowing exactly where I was before I even opened my eyes, all because of that smell. I was all alone in a plain white room with bandages over my wrist and an iv in my arm. Who said they could stick me with needles, I thought reaching for it. As I was about to pull the needle out of my arm Mr. Malfoy walked in.
"Ah good to see that you are awake, Ms. Jacobs. You gave us quiet a scare there." He smirked sitting down in a chair by my bed. "It would be best if you did not do that again and I'm afraid you will have to be punished when you get home."
"If you have forgotten, Mr. Malfoy, there is no one at home to punish me." I replied icily starring him down. But his smirk just grew.
"It has been decided that until you finish your schooling, Malfoy Manner will be your home and my wife and I, will be your parents or at least your legal guardians. The paperwork has already been taken care of." I blinked. I could feel my cheeks getting warm. Glancing down I saw the tips of my hair start to turn red. I smiled to myself, he didn't know what he was getting himself into. I glared at him, not blinking once as my now flaming red eyes met his icy grey ones. He gasped slightly as he saw my eyes.
"You will never be my father." I said deathly quiet and low. Then I flicked my wrist and he was flying out of his chair across the room, until he smacked against the wall in a flurry of black fabric and platinum hair. Now it was my turn to smirk, but it wasn't for long. Within a second of his figure slumping to the ground he was up, his wand at the ready and before I could move a muscle he had me under his control.
"Now that's a good girl. It seems your punishment will have to be harsher than was planned. It's time to leave so please get your clothes on." and with that he walked out of the room. Clothes had appeared o the end of the bed and my body began to move against my will. I tried to hold myself down, but it didn't work, his spell was too strong. In no time I was fully dressed and walking out to meet Mr. Malfoy. He apparated us straight to Malfoy Manor and that's when I entered hell. I was backhanded and smacked over the back with his came as soon as I was standing in his entrance hall. By the time he was finished my lip was badly split as was my eyebrow and the blood was dripping into my eye. Bruises were sprouting up everywhere and there were several imprints of the Malfoy crest on my cheeks and nose from his ring. It hurt but I didn't wince or cry at all, Mr. Malfoy was not worth my emotions. Plus he wasn't completely unscathed from the encounter. The was a trace of blood in his blonde hair from where I smacked him into the ceiling several times. He beat me three more times while I was staying at his house and forced me to sleep with the house elves. Each night as I lie on the pile of potato sacks that was my bed, I thought to myself, If there's a God he sure is cruel. Why couldn't he just let me die.
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The fourth morning of my stay at Malfoy Manor, I was awoken by Mr. Malfoy instead of the house elves. He took me to the living room and put concealment charms on all my injuries. Then tapped me over the head with his wand and I was dressed in what I assumed to be the Hogwarts uniform, considering the crest on the right pocket. My hair was fixed and I looked and smelled cleaner than I had since I had been at home.
"We have a meeting with Dumbledore in little less than ten minutes and we will be flooing directly to his office, seeing as you cannot apparate. Be sure to be on your best behavior and remember that if you make one slip up I can bring you home and teach you how to properly behave." Mr. Malfoy said escorting me to a dark room with towering bookcases and a neatly organized desk, that I assumed to be his office or some sort of library. "You go first, the destination is Albus Dumbledore's office, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." I threw the shimmering green powder into the flames and clearly repeated what Mr. Malfoy had just said before stepping into the large fire place. I felt that familiar spinning sensation and watched as grate after grate passed by until I landed hard in a large fireplace. The room in front of me was blocked by a tall golden gate but from what I could see it was spacious and filled with various odds and ends. Mr. Malfoy appeared behind me a moment later and looked at the gate in disgust. "That mudblood lover takes more caution than I expected."
"Dangerous times are upon us Lucius, one must be careful with who they let randomly pop up in their office." Laughed a kind voice. I couldn't see who it was coming from as the chair the man was sitting in had it's back to us. The golden gate creaked open slowly and I was allowed to see the room in all it's splendor. It was actually several circular rooms combined to make a house and I could see more behind the desk. Mr. Malfoy and I left the circle in which we were standing and stepped down to a level lined with shelves and filled with tables that held all sorts of wonderful magical devices. Directly in front of us was an oak desk behind which the man sat. His chair was still turned around but I didn't care. I had lost interest in the man due to the gorgeous bird perched on a stand beside the desk. With it's deep scarlet feathers and golden eyes, it was mesmerizing. I lost myself in those eyes, they seemed to see directly into my soul and as it looked at me I saw a few tears fall from it's eyes. I had a sudden urge to touch those tears but then the man spoke again. "Fawkes is quite a magnificent bird, isn't he?" His blue eyes were smiling at me from behind half moon spectacles and his long white beard showed just enough of his mouth for me to see the corners turn up. All I could do was nod. "He's a Phoenix, one of the most amazing creatures ever, if I do say so myself." I smiled back, the man seemed so kind. Nothing like Mr. Malfoy talked about him. Mr. Malfoy always described him as weak and frail, despicable really, but the man sitting in front of me, although old, had strength in his eyes and his voice. "I am Albus Dumbledore, my dear, would you like a lemon drop?" I started to reach for one, but before I could Mr. Malfoy had stepped in front of me, blocking Dumbledore and the bowl of lemon drops from my view.
"Go wait in the hall Aaralyn." He whispered slightly pushing me towards the door. I started to protest but stopped when Mr. Malfoy raised his right hand to "brush off his ring." It still had some blood on it, from the last beating and I knew he wanted me to see that. It was a threat. Silently I turned and walked away. The room outside of the office was small and cold with a few straight back wooden chairs. I took a seat in the one closest to the door and waited. An hour later and I'm still waiting. I looked down at the hair I was fiddling with. It was light blue. I dropped it like fire. Stupid changing hair, I thought. I'd had it ever since I could remember and I've hated it just as long. It was like a mood ring on my head that I couldn't get rid of and right now it was telling the whole world just how nervous I was. If only I had a mirror, I could see how bad the damage was. Suddenly a mirror appeared on the opposite wall. Cool, I thought walking over to it. I shrieked. Half of my head was a light blue, while the other half was orange. There was a strip of dark blue framing the right side of my face and a yellow strip framing the other side. As I watched the ends changed to hot pink. Lovely now the Headmaster could see just how much of a freak I was. That's what I got for forgetting about my hair. Usually I was able to keep it under control, but if I forgot about it for a minute or concentrated to hard on something else it went wild. I closed my eyes and concentrated as hard as I could on making my hair normal again. When I opened my eyes it hair was mostly black. There was just a four inch strip of color that started behind my ear, with a little bit of each color. The hot pink had disappeared, though. I frowned my eyes had changed. Sometimes that happened when I de-colored my hair. One was light blue and the other was orange, but there was nothing I could do to get them back to their normal saphire color. O no I thought suddenly,what if I'm too weird? Who would want a freak chick who's hair and eyes changed colors with her mood? The door opened and I looked up to see Albus Dumbledore standing there.
"I must say, your hair is quite a lovely color. I don't think I have ever seen that shade of purple before and with those other colorful accents it is quiet tasteful. Maybe I should consider dying mine that way." I glanced in the mirror again. He was right, everything that I had made black was now a dark purple, but the rainbow strip was still there. At least he doesn't have the key to know what color means what. The only people who did were my parents and Gino, and well the chances of me seeing any of them again where really not good. "I do believe you wanted a lemon drop earlier, would you still like it now?" He asked gesturing towards his office.
"But what about Mr. Malfoy?" I asked shakily, hoping my voice didn't betray my nerves.
"Mr. Malfoy has left." Dumbledore smiled kindly pulling a lemon drop from the pocket of his robe and handing it too me. I smiled back unwrapping the candy and popping it into my mouth as I followed him into his office. As I stepped through the door, I took a glance back at my reflection and grinned. My hair was almost all black again, the only color was a few highlights of gold here and there and I could live with that.